Sumner Slichter

Infobox Scientist
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name = Sumner H. Slichter


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birth_date = 1892
birth_place = Madison, Wisconsin
death_date = 1959
death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts
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fields = Labor economics
workplaces = Harvard University
alma_mater = University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Sumner Huber Slichter (1892-1959) was an American economist and the first Lamont University Professor at Harvard University. Slichter was considered by many to be the pre-eminent labor economist of the 1940s and '50s. [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/UW/UW-idx?type=div&did=UW.V58I13.I0009&isize=text The University: Wisconsin alumnus (Volume 58, Number 13): Four brothers ] ] [ [http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=L39CLsvn5vyKVClsjpP7QWlKkDzT97DbpKHVCHhqZv9T6HlXQ5mv!-1989033093?docId=5000453729 How Did Economics Get That Way and What Way Did It Get? ] ] [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb4t1nb6tk&doc.view=content&chunk.id=div005&toc.depth=1&brand=calisphere&anchor.id=0 The Consequences of the Abrogation of Tenure: An Accounting of Costs, Feb. 1, 1951 ] ]

Education

Slichter was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Charles Sumner Slichter, a mathematician and dean of the graduate school at the University of Wisconsin [ [http://www.housing.wisc.edu/halls/history.html Division of University Housing - History of the Residence Halls ] ] . Sumner Slichter graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1913 before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

Career

Following stints at Cornell and Princeton, Slichter came to Harvard in 1930. After Harvard president James Conant created university professorships -- professorships not tied to any particular department -- in 1936, Slichter was named the inaugural Lamont University Professor. Slichter remained at Harvard through the end of his career. He received an honorary degree from Harvard in 1942. [ [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04006#tar_S Harvard University. Photographs : portrait files : an inventory ] ]

A regular lecturer and contributor to magazines like Harper's, [http://www.publicagenda.com/forgiveusourdebts/pdfs/The_Big_Postwar_Story_final%20_Journalism_History_article.pdf] Slichter was arguably the best-known economist in America at the peak of his career. [Preface, cite book |title=Potentials of the American Economy: Selected Essays of Sumner Slichter |author=John T. Dunlap |year=1961 |publisher=Harvard University Press |asin=B000RKYUCW ] Slichter's textbook, "Modern Economic Society", was a standard introductory economics textbooks in America before 1950.

Slichter was named president of the American Economic Association in 1941 [ [http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/aea.htm American Economic Association ] ] .

Though critical of substantial portions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic policy, Slichter served as an informal economic adviser to Harry Truman. [ [http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=718&FT=yes Johnson, Dr. Harry G., Should Gold be Scrapped? ] ]

Views

Slichter was skeptical of the New Deal as a means to provide full employment, arguing that a government guarantee of full employment created perverse incentives for employees. [ [http://www.ssa.gov/history/biggeoral.html Social Security Online History Pages ] ]

As World War II drew to a close, most economists predicted that, with an end to government spending on the war, the economy would collapse again. Slichter correctly predicted that, with soldiers coming home seeking a normal life and material pleasures, the economy would grow strongly after the end of the war, and that inflation would be a greater cause for concern than depression. [ [http://129.3.20.41/eps/mhet/papers/0405/0405006.pdf MDY04003.dvi ] ] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791589,00.html?promoid=googlep The Prospects - TIME ] ] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799279,00.html The Old Question - TIME ] ]

Slichter was the first major economist to recognize that the pool of labor from comparably skilled workers was not unified across the economy, but rather segmented by industry, with supply and demand curves varying as a function of the industry's profitability. [ [http://www.aimlesslychasing.com/math-sebok-vs-haxton-and-pokers-rose.html AimlesslyChasingAmy » Blog Archive » Math: Sebok vs. Haxton and Poker’s Rose ] ]

References